Michael Henry Heim Poradie kníh (chronologicky)

This parable of censorship and the modern state centers on Hanta, a trash collector whose habit of salvaging and reading discarded books has brought him both the richness of the classics and the ridicule of his boss

Najznámejšia novela Thomasa Manna zachytáva vznik a vývin pustošivého, bezvýchodiskového citu, ktorý uzatvára smrť, nakoniec predstavujúca vykúpenie. Sám autor ju charakterizoval ako „príbeh o rozkoši zo zániku“. Úspešný starnúci spisovateľ Gustav von Aschenbach sa nečakane rozhodne stráviť leto v Benátkach. Ubytuje sa na Lide, kde jeho pozornosť upúta krásny poľský chlapec Tadzio. Keď v meste vypukne epidémia cholery, Aschenbach zvažuje odchod, no jeho fascinácia chlapcom je silnejšia než pud sebazáchovy, a tak kvôli Tadziovi ostáva. V deň Tadziovho odchodu Aschenbach zomiera, pozorujúc na pláži objekt svojej trýznivej lásky.

From the author of Baba Yaga Laid an Egg and Thank You for Not Reading From the story of Steffie Cvek to "The Kharms Case," the pieces in Dubravka Ugresic's collection Lend Me Your Character are always smart and endlessly entertaining. The former story paints a picture of a harassed and vulnerable typist whose life is shaped entirely by cliches. She searches endlessly for an elusive romantic love in a narrative punctuated by threadbare advice from women's magazines and constructed like a sewing pattern. The latter story is one of Ugresic's funniest and is about the strained relationship between a persistent translator and an unresponsive publisher. The stories collected in Lend Me Your Character, the novella "Steffie Cvek in the Jaws of Life," and a collection of short stories entitled "Life Is a Fairy Tale" solidify Ugresic's reputation as one of Eastern Europe's most playful and inventive writers."

S presnou pozorovacou schopnosťou, podrobnou znalosťou svojho prostredia a novinárskym vtipom líči Jan Neruda so shovívavým nadhľadom skúseného rozprávača životné príbehy pražských postáv. Niekedy komické, inokedy až fatálne tragické, vždy však pravdivo založené na komplikovaných medziľudských vzťahoch, finančných a spoločenských pomeroch alebo náboženských tradíciách. Napriek archaickému jazyku typickému pre dobu vzniku vyžaruje svet nanejvýš aktuálny a dokazuje, že ľudské uvažovanie a charaktery sa od tých z 19. storočia nelíšia ani dnes. Mistrovsky vykreslené postavy, ich presná psychológia i popis zevňajšku a každodenných zvykov, zarámované kulisami Prahy pred rokom 1848, robia z Poviedok malostranských najlepšiu Nerudovu zbierku próz, ktorá prekročila žánrové hranice realizmu a stala sa priekopníkom českej modernej poviedky.

This ebullient, gallivanting novel encapsulates the world vision of the Czech Republic's best-loved author in one tumbling, breathtaking sentence. Saints and sinners, emperors and embezzlers, barmaids and balalaikas all play their part in the bawdy reminiscences of Hrabal's cobbler as he charms an audience of young beauties.

Attempting to go beyond the cliche of Prague as the golden city , this book brings out all its mystery, ambiguity, gloom, lethargy and hidden fascination. More than a literary and cultural history of Prague, this book seeks to be both a celebration and requiem for an oppressed culture.

Poviedky zo zbierok Encyklopédia mŕtvych, Lutna a jazvy a próza Legenda o spáčoch sú sústredené na veľkú tému smrti, ktorú autor prezentuje v rôznych historických, kultúrnych, spoločenských a ideologických kontextoch – od gnostických legiend po modernú dobu, od legendárnych spáčov po nadčasovú encyklopédiu, v ktorej možno nájsť zaznamenané životy všetkých ľudí, ktorí na svete žili. Táto poviedková kniha je vzrušujúcim prepletaním imaginácie a faktov, pradávnych právd a moderných skúseností, historických poznatkov a ich ironickej rekonštrukcie. Ponúka excelentný čitateľský zážitok a viacvrstvový pohľad na chápanie dejín i individuálneho ľudského osudu.

In this novel - a story of irreconcilable loves and infidelities - Milan Kundera addresses himself to the nature of twentieth-century 'Being' In a world in which lives are shaped by irrevocable choices and by fortuitous events, a world in which everything occurs but once, existence seems to lose its substance, its weight. We feel, says the novelist, 'the unbearable lightness of being' - not only as the consequence of our private acts but also in the public sphere, and the two inevitably intertwine. Juxtaposing Prague, Geneva, Thailand and the United States, this masterly novel encompasses the extremes of comedy and tragedy, and embraces, it seems, all aspects of human existence. It offers a wide range of brilliant and amusing philosophical speculations and it descants on a variety of styles

This is the first novel by the author of Immortality, which won The Independent Award for Foreign Fiction in 1991. Milan Kundera is also the author of The Book of Laughter and Fogetting.

'This book is a novel in the form of variations. The various parts follow each other like the various stages of a voyage leading into the interior of a theme, the interior of a thought, the interior of a single, unique situation the understanding of which recedes from my sight into the distance. It is a book about laughter and about forgetting, about forgetting and about Prague, about Prague and about the angels.' The Book of Laughter and Forgetting is the most secret of Kundera's novels. This new translation is the first to be fully authorized by Milan Kundera. 'An urgent, stunning book; it teaches us that when we die, what we lose is not the future but the past. I think of Kundera as the great modern descendant of Gogol and Kafka.' Carlos Fuentes

Developed by Professor Michael Heim (UCLA), the text contains grammar, extensive model sentences, and exercises (Part 1) and a series of review lessons (Part 2). Vocabulary and sentences are recorded along with a selection of exercises. Czech-English, English-Czech glossaries are provided. This intermediate course is particularly helpful for those who have a command of Russian. text. Product no. AFCZ10D